The myth of "peaceful" Finland. What prompted the USSR to start a war with Finland
75 years ago, 30 November 1939, the Winter War began (Soviet-Finnish war). The winter war for a long time was almost unknown to the inhabitants of Russia. In 1980-1990's, when it was possible to blaspheme with impunity history Russia-USSR was dominated by the point of view that the “bloody Stalin” wanted to capture “innocent” Finland, but a small, but proud northern people fought back the northern “evil empire”. Thus, Stalin was blamed not only for the Soviet-Finnish 1939-1940 war, but also for the fact that Finland was “forced” to ally with Hitler’s Germany to resist the “aggression” of the Soviet Union.
Many books and articles denounced Soviet Mordor, who attacked little Finland. They called absolutely fantastic numbers of Soviet losses, reported on heroic Finnish submachine gunners and snipers, the stupidity of Soviet generals and much more. Any reasonable reasons for the Kremlin’s actions were completely denied. They say the irrational malice of the “bloody dictator” is to blame for everything.
In order to understand why Moscow went to this war, it is necessary to recall the history of Finland. Finnish tribes have long been on the periphery of the Russian state and the Swedish kingdom. Some of them became part of Russia, became "Russian". The fragmentation and weakening of Rus led to the fact that the Finnish tribes were conquered and subjugated by Sweden. The Swedes carried out a colonization policy in the traditions of the West. Finland did not have administrative or even cultural autonomy. The official language was Swedish, it was spoken by nobles and the entire educated segment of the population.
Russia, having taken Finland away from Sweden in the 1809 year, essentially gave Finns statehood, allowed them to create the main state institutions, to form a national economy. Finland got its own government, currency, and even an army as part of Russia. At the same time, the Finns did not pay general taxes and did not fight for Russia. Finnish language, while maintaining the status of the Swedish language, received the position of the state. The authorities of the Russian Empire practically did not interfere in the affairs of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The Russification policy in Finland was not carried out for a long time (some elements appeared only in the late period, but it was already late). The resettlement of Russians to Finland was virtually prohibited. Moreover, the Russians living in the Grand Duchy were in an unequal position in relation to local residents. In addition, in 1811, the Vyborg gubernia was transferred to the Grand Duchy, which included the land that Russia defeated from Sweden in the XVIII century. Moreover, Vyborg was of great military-strategic importance in relation to the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg. Thus, the Finns in the Russian “prison of nations” lived better than the Russians themselves, who bore all the building up of the empire and its defense against numerous enemies.
The collapse of the Russian Empire gave Finland independence. Finland thanked Russia for first entering into an alliance with Kaiser Germany, and then with the Entente powers (more in a series of articles - How Russia created Finnish statehood; [/ url]Part of 2; Finland in alliance with the Kaiser Germany against Russia; Part of 2; Finland in alliance with the Entente against Russia. First Soviet-Finnish War; Part 2). On the eve of World War II, Finland held a hostile position towards Russia, leaning towards an alliance with the Third Reich.
The majority of Russian citizens associate Finland with a “small, cozy European country,” with peaceful and cultural residents. This was facilitated by a kind of "political correctness" in relation to Finland, which reigned in the late Soviet propaganda. Finland, after being defeated in the 1941-1944 war, got a good lesson and got the most out of its neighborhood with the great Soviet Union. Therefore, the USSR did not remember that the Finns attacked the USSR three times in 1918, 1921 and 1941. This was preferred to be forgotten for the sake of a good relationship.
Finland was not a peaceful neighbor of Soviet Russia. The separation of Finland from Russia was not peaceful. The civil war began between the white and red Finns. Belykh was supported by Germany. The Soviet government refrained from large-scale support for the Reds. Therefore, with the help of the Germans, the white Finns prevailed. The winners created a network of concentration camps, unleashed a white terror, during which tens of thousands of people died (only a few thousand people were killed on both sides during the hostilities). In addition to the Reds and their supporters, the Finns “cleaned out” the Russian community in Finland. Moreover, the majority of Russians in Finland, including refugees from Russia who fled from the Bolsheviks, did not support the Reds and Soviet power. Former officers of the tsarist army, their families, representatives of the bourgeoisie, intellectuals, numerous students, the entire Russian population indiscriminately, women, old people and children were exterminated. Significant material assets belonging to the Russians were confiscated.
The Finns were going to put the German king on the throne of Finland. However, the defeat of Germany in the war led to the fact that Finland became a republic. After that, Finland began to focus on the Entente powers. Finland was not satisfied with independence, the Finnish elite wanted more, claiming Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, and the most radical leaders made plans to build "Great Finland" with the inclusion of Arkhangelsk and Russian lands as far as the Northern Urals, Ob and Yenisei (Urals and Western Siberia are considered the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric language family).
The leadership of Finland, like Poland, was not satisfied with the existing borders, preparing for war. Poland had territorial claims to almost all its neighbors - Lithuania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Germany, the Polish gentry dreamed of restoring a great power “from sea to sea”. This is more or less known in Russia. But few people know that the Finnish elite raved about a similar idea, the creation of the “Great Finland”. The ruling elite also set out to create Great Finland. The Finns did not want to get involved with the Swedes, but laid claim to the Soviet lands, which were larger than Finland itself. The radicals had unlimited appetites, stretching all the way to the Urals and further to the Ob and the Yenisei.
And for the beginning they wanted to capture Karelia. Soviet Russia was torn apart by the Civil War, which the Finns wanted to take advantage of. So, in February, 1918, General K. Mannerheim declared that "he would not sheathe his sword until East Karelia was freed from the Bolsheviks." Mannerheim planned to seize the Russian lands along the line of the White Sea - Lake Onega - the river Svir - Lake Ladoga, which was supposed to facilitate the defense of the new lands. The composition of Great Finland also planned to include the region of Pechenga (Petsamo) and the Kola Peninsula. They wanted to separate Petrograd from Soviet Russia and make it a “free city”, like Danzig. 15 May 1918 Finland declared war on Russia. Even before the official declaration of war, Finnish volunteer units began to conquer Eastern Karelia.
Soviet Russia was engaged in fighting on other fronts, so it did not have the strength to defeat its arrogant neighbor. However, the Finnish attack on Petrozavodsk and Olonets, the march on Petrograd through the Karelian Isthmus failed. And after the defeat of the white army of Yudenich, the Finns had to go to the world. From 10 to 14 in July 1920 in Tartu, peace negotiations took place. The Finns demanded to transfer Karelia to them, the Soviet side refused. In the summer, the Red Army dislodged the last Finnish troops from Karelian territory. The Finns kept only two parishes - Rebola and Porosozero. It made them more compliant. There was no hope for the help of the West, the Entente powers already realized that the intervention in Soviet Russia had failed. 14 October 1920 was signed by the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Finland. The Finns were able to get the Pechenga volost, the western part of the Rybachiy peninsula, and most of the Middle Peninsula and the islands to the west of the boundary line in the Barents Sea. Rebola and Porosozero were returned to Russia.
This did not satisfy Helsinki. From the construction plans of the "Great Finland" did not refuse, they were only postponed. In 1921, Finland again tried to solve the Karelian question by force. Finnish volunteer units, without declaring war, invaded Soviet territory, the Second Soviet-Finnish War began. In February, the Soviet forces completely liberated the territory of Karelia from invaders in 1922. In March, an agreement was signed on taking measures to ensure the inviolability of the Soviet-Finnish border.
But even after this failure, the Finns did not cool down. The situation on the Finnish border was constantly tense. Many, remembering the USSR, imagine the great mighty power that won the Third Reich, who took Berlin, sent the first man into space and made the whole Western world tremble. Like, how little Finland could threaten the huge northern “evil empire”. However, the USSR 1920-1930-gg. was a great power only in territory and its potential. The real policy of Moscow was super-cautious then. In fact, for quite a long time, Moscow, until it got stronger, pursued an extremely flexible policy, most often yielding, did not climb on the rampage.
For example, the Japanese for a long time robbed our waters near the Kamchatka Peninsula. Under the protection of their warships, Japanese fishermen not only cleaned out all the living creatures from our waters for millions of gold rubles, but also freely landed on our shores to repair, process fish, get fresh water, and so on. The USSR grew stronger thanks to successful industrialization, received a powerful military-industrial complex and strong armed forces, the red commanders had a strict order to restrain Japanese troops only on their territory, without crossing the border. The situation was similar in the Russian North, where Norwegian fishermen fished in the internal waters of the USSR. And when Soviet border guards tried to protest, Norway took out warships to the White Sea.
Of course, in Finland they no longer wanted to fight the USSR alone. Finland has become a friend of any hostile Russian powers. As the first Finnish Prime Minister Per Evind Swinhovud noted: “Any enemy of Russia must always be a friend of Finland.” Against this background, Finland has made friendship even with Japan. Japanese officers began to come to Finland for an internship. In Finland, as in Poland, they feared any strengthening of the USSR, since their leaders built their calculations that a war of some great Western power with Russia was inevitable (or a war between Japan and the USSR), and they would be able to profit at the expense of the Russian lands . Inside Finland, the press was constantly hostile to the USSR, led almost open propaganda for the attack on Russia and the rejection of its territories. On the Soviet-Finnish border all sorts of provocations constantly occurred on land, at sea and in the air.
After hopes of an imminent conflict between Japan and the USSR did not materialize, the Finnish leadership headed for a close alliance with Germany. The two countries had close military-technical cooperation. With the consent of Finland, a German intelligence and counterintelligence center (the “Bureau of Cellarius”) was created in the country. His main task was to conduct intelligence work against the USSR. The Germans were primarily interested in data on the Baltic navy, compounds of the Leningrad Military District and industry of the northwestern part of the USSR. By the beginning of 1939, Finland, with the help of German specialists, had built a network of military airfields, which was capable of receiving 10 times more aircraft than there were in the Finnish Air Force. Very indicative is the fact that even before the war of 1939-1940. An identification mark of the Finnish Air Force and armored forces was the Finnish swastika.
Thus, by the beginning of a big war in Europe, we had a clearly hostile, aggressive-minded state on the north-western frontier, whose elite dreamed of building “Great Finland at the expense of the Russian (Soviet) lands and was ready to be friends with any potential opponent of the USSR. Helsinki were ready to fight with the USSR both in alliance with Germany and Japan, and with the help of England and France.
The Soviet leadership understood everything perfectly and, seeing the approach of the new world war, sought to secure the north-western borders. Of particular importance was Leningrad - the second capital of the USSR, a powerful industrial, scientific and cultural center, as well as the main base of the Baltic Fleet. Finnish long-range artillery could bombard the city from its border, and ground troops reach Leningrad with one jerk. The fleet of a potential enemy (Germany or England and France) could easily break through to Kronstadt and then Leningrad. To protect the city, it was necessary to remove the land border on land, as well as to restore the distant line of defense at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, getting a place under the fortifications on the northern and southern shores. The largest fleet of the Soviet Union - the Baltic, was actually blocked in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The Baltic Fleet had a single base - Kronstadt. Kronstadt and the Soviet ships could have been hit by the long-range coastal defense weapons of Finland. This situation could not satisfy the Soviet leadership.
With Estonia, the issue could be resolved peacefully. In September, 1939 between the USSR and Estonia was signed an agreement on mutual assistance. The Soviet military contingent was introduced into the territory of Estonia. The USSR obtained the rights to create military bases on the islands of Ezel and Dago, in Paldiski and Haapsalu.
With Finland in an amicable agreement could not be reached. Although negotiations began back in 1938 year. Moscow has tried everything. She proposed to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance and together defend the zone of the Gulf of Finland, give the USSR the opportunity to create a base on the coast of Finland (the Hanko peninsula), and sell or lease out several islands in the Gulf of Finland. It was also proposed to move the border away from Leningrad. As compensation, the Soviet Union offered much larger areas of Eastern Karelia, concessional loans, economic benefits, etc. However, all proposals came up against the categorical refusal of the Finnish side. It is impossible not to mention the inflammatory role of London. The British told the Finns that it was necessary to take a firm stand and not to succumb to the pressure of Moscow. This encouraged Helsinki.
Finland has begun a general mobilization and evacuation of the civilian population from the border areas. At the same time, arrests of leftist leaders were carried out. At the border, frequent incidents. So, November 26 1939, a border incident occurred in the village of Mineila. According to Soviet data, Finnish artillery shelled Soviet territory. The Finnish side has declared the culprit provocation of the USSR. 28 November, the Soviet government announced the denunciation of the non-aggression pact with Finland. November 30 war began. Its results are known. Moscow solved the task of ensuring the security of Leningrad and the Baltic Fleet. It can be said that only thanks to the Winter War, the enemy was unable, during the Great Patriotic War, to capture the second capital of the Soviet Union.
Currently, Finland is again drifting towards the West, NATO, so you should watch it closely. The “cozy and cultural” country can once again recall the plans of the “Great Finland” up to the Northern Urals. Finland and Sweden are thinking about joining NATO, and the Baltic States and Poland are literally turning into NATO’s headboards for aggression against Russia. And Ukraine is becoming a tool for war with Russia in the south-western direction.
Information